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until we catch this Kelpie!
We’re planning to grab this kelpie’s stolen hoard in 2024 after the kelpie was seen sneaking into the Arran sea loch in 2013. We’re just hoping he didn’t go too far into the Firth of Clyde and get caught by a submarine!
Witnesses say he took some peated spirit in a bourbon cask so let’s have a look at what we know;
Coming from the Isle of Arran with it’s ancient and mysterious landscape, filled with 4,000-year-old standing stones, you’d expect this to be a breeding ground for kelpies.
Arran is also home to some of the purest water in all of Scotland. Cleansed by granite and then slowly filtered and softened as it meanders into Loch na Davie, this is the start of making a great whisky.
As the most south-westerly distillery of Scotish single malt, Arran enjoys a speedy maturation process with its warm gulf-stream sea breezes. Our whisky is 10-years-old but thanks to this warmth, has the age profile of a much older whisky.
Because we’ve used a “first fill” bourbon cask, let’s have a look at how this affects the taste and nose of our whisky.
First off the American white oak used contains very few tannins. This creates a more mellow and smoother tasting whisky.
Next, the barrel has been “toasted”. This is a heat treatment that transforms the interior of the wooden staves (as opposed to the interior of the barrel), heating it to 150ºC (300°F) and in the process caramelises the wood sugars. This is where the vanilla and caramel flavours and colours come from in our whisky.
Finally, the barrel is charred. By burning the inside of the barrel and then extinguishing it quickly with water, this creates a thin layer of charcoal. This charcoal is used for a process called “subtractive maturation” which removes many of the sharp and intense tasting sulphur compounds and boosting the ester notes in our whisky. Obviously, this charcoal has already been used once in the maturation of the original bourbon and won’t last forever so it’s important to use a first fill cask like ours to get the most benefit.
Peated to 20PPM (phenol parts per million) this will make it “quite peaty”, not subtle but not overpowering either. To give you an idea… it’s “peatiness” will be in the order of Talisker and Highland Park, and slightly less than a Caol Ila and Lagavulin.
When people think of peaty whiskies they invariably think of Islay, but as you can see from the comparisons above some Island and Highland whiskies are also known for their phenols. Until recently the area around Lochranza on the Isle of Arran wasn’t on anyone’s map of smoky drams, but the recent production of several editions of Arran’s “Machrie Moor” has proved both popular and highly regarded. Maintaining Arran’s trademark sweet, fruity and biscuity malt with the subtle addition of lingering and alluring peat smoke. Our whisky follows this course but at 10 years old is a little less fiery and youthful.
We will only be able to get our hands on a single cask of this exceptional whisky resulting in less than 480 bottles, each available at cask strength in 35cl numbered bottles.